Looking for some inspiration for your 2023 knitting or crocheting projects? With the start of every new year, it brings the opportunity to try something new! Maybe there’s a new technique that you’ve really wanted to try out, or a project that’s been sitting on the back-burner for a while. Take this as your sign to give it a go this year!

To kick off the year, we sat down together on a sunny January day, with cheese and crackers in hand, to discuss our 2023 plans, and we thought why not share these with you folk as well!

Ruth – “I’ve been thinking about my crafting goals for 2023, knowing that in January when everything feels new and fresh it seems totally doable to do it all. But if I think a bit more honestly I know that is not happening to my projects this year, but with careful planning and implementation maybe I could achieve it all for 2024 (or ‘25 or ‘26…) 

So more realistically, I have narrowed my goals down. My projects to work on for 2023 include finishing a crochet blanket I started in 2017. It’s big and I am not sure why I started it (seemed like a good idea at the time). I also have an unfinished crochet jacket made from the fabled Mrs Phelps’ granny squares in Broadway Purely Wool DK. 

As for knitting, I want to finish my Love Note by Tin Can Knits in Hedgehog Fibres Skinny Singles and Kidsilk, make my DNA Pullover (possibly from Hedgehog Fibres Tweedy), and Flax by Tin Can Knits in Zealana Kauri Worsted.

I realise I have a lot of projects to make, and so I need a speedier way of knitting, which makes me think learning Continental might be beneficial. We can hope, right? Maybe then I can also correct the valley effect I get at the beginning of each row. Who knows? I might even be able to achieve learning mattress stitch and improve my finishing techniques.

Looking at all the stash and the time I have to knit it, and the list of patterns I added to my Rav library, I am going to finish sometime around 2050.”

Joy – “I spent the first few days of January frogging unfinished projects that no longer delight me and separating  yarn to destash, to create a nice clean slate for 2023. I am a terrible decision maker, so trying to commit right now to specific projects for the year is a recipe for disaster, so my plans are always a bit more fluid than that. 

I do very much want to finish all my WIPS – a black Colors of Kauai cardigan that has been stuck in sleeve island since I broke my arm years ago, as the thought of picking up stitches in black has thoroughly not appealed; my Millicent Capelet in Anzula Wash My Lace that I paused in June last when I got covid as those tiny lace stitches were not compatible with being terribly unwell – but I am SO close to finishing it; and my Rizzo top from Poison Grrls in sparkly, hot-pink Anzula Nebula yarn because vintage style, hot pink, and sparkles are my signature look!

I also have some techniques I want to learn, so I will work backwards from those to find the projects! I want to learn brioche, try stranded colourwork, and make a pair of socks, probably in Urth Tigress Sock yarn although Urth Harmony is a strong option.  l. And once I finish Rizzo, I am keen to start another vintage inspired top, which is the reason I started knitting to begin with! Choosing will, as always, be the hardest part.”

So with that being said, we aim to get some old projects completed and new skills added to our skillset. What’s on your list for 2023 goals? If you’re in need of some inspiration for new patterns to give a go, or new skills to learn, check out some of our recent blogs for some ideas.